Americans almost universally prefer cars with automatic transmissions, leading to a slow decline of manual car sales in the states. Less than 1% of new cars made for sale in the U.S. last year were stick shifts, according to the Environmental Protection Agency's latest motor trends report, an all-time low.
But that doesn’t mean people aren't still driving them — or at least reminiscing over the times they did.
Americans are keeping and driving older cars for longer than ever according to the Wall Stree Journal, and teens regularly learn to drive on the family beater. On a recent episode of LAist 89.3’s talk news program AirTalk, listeners shared what it is about driving a manual transmission that’s so enticing, and why they continue to.
Keeping the tradition going
Anna in Highland Park called in and said she learned to drive stick from her father in the ‘90s, and only made the switch from her manual 2007 Toyota Yaris to an automatic a few years ago. But she didn’t part with the old wheels.
“I just taught my 16-year-old daughter to drive it," she said. “Of course she didn’t when I first tried to make her learn it, but she loves it now.”
Dennis Chernyukhin, who gives stick-shift lessons to people in California through his company SHIFTR, said that a big share of his students are teenagers who sign up in order to learn on a family car.
"The parents are nostalgic about how they learned to drive when they were younger, and so they want to pass on that skill,” he said.
Terrifying lessons, lasting love
”We got to a red light, and my dad just got out of the car, looked at me and said, ‘Good luck, son. You're ready to go.’ He shut the door, and the light turned green, and there I was,” Jared in Silverlake said. “I was so scared, but I put it in first, I was off.”
The lesson stuck with Jared, and over time he developed a skill of listening for when to shift gears and get the best gas mileage. He drives an automatic car now, but still drives with only one hand saying, “that’s how I learned with stick.”
Feeling connected to the machine
Across the board, callers said driving a manual transmission makes them feel more in tune with the car.
Terry in Studio City said he learned to drive stick when he was 15, and now at 73, he still has never bought a car with an automatic transmission. He drives a 2003 Toyota Tacoma. People often approach him offering to buy the truck. He shoots down their offers every time.
“You’re just connected to the car," echoed John in Hancock Park. "I learned how to drive stick shift when I was 15 on my dad’s old Saab, and there’s just nothing better.”
Saving a buck on a trip abroad
Across Europe, stick shifts are more common, with about 29% of new cars sold with manual transmissions across the big five countries there, according to automotive data company JATO. They're also notably cheaper to rent than their automatic cousins, Booking.com notes.
But back before their wider adoption in Europe, automatic cars were a rarity — a lesson Mary from Indio learned after her father taught her and her sister how to drive stick.
“ We went to Europe and wanted to drive through Europe,” she said. “You couldn't even get an automatic. And so we drove through France, Italy, and Switzerland for 16 days with an Audi stick shift."
Is the end nigh for stick shifts?
Looking at trendlines, it may seem like stick shifts are soon to be a thing of the past. But Chernyukhin said that the teaching biz is pretty good, for a seemingly paradoxical reason.
“What we’ve seen is that as the skill becomes more rare, the demand increases correspondingly,” he said. “There’s no comparable experience to having a clutch pedal and a shifter and fully controlling the car.”
Listen to the full AirTalk conversation below to hear about the niche jobs that still require you to know how to drive stick.
AirTalk: what do you like about stick shifts?
